KUALA LUMPUR, 12 May 2017 – The government of Malaysia represented by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) today signed a three-way Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hangzhou Municipal Government and Alibaba Company Limited to connect the first e-hubs in the two countries to Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) as well as to link the China (Hangzhou) Comprehensive eCommerce Pilot Zone and Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ). This MoU is a testament to further strengthen the collaboration between the two countries and its companies, and ultimately, to bring DFTZ to the next level.

Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, said: “Fostering closer partnership with China is imperative to sustaining our economic growth, and e-business and commerce is clearly the future of global trade. It is therefore exciting to witness the forming of a partnership between government and reputable private enterprises, who will work together to lay the foundation for a more efficient conduct of cross-border trade in the Internet age, to the benefit of all.”

“Malaysia is turning the Digital Free Trade Zone vision into a reality. The focus is clear – we want to help Malaysian SMEs overcome the complexity of doing cross-border trading, remove barriers, support them in realising their full economic potential and ensure that they can also enjoy the benefits of global commerce. The eCommerce hubs linking the two countries will allow Malaysian SMEs to conduct global trade with China via Hangzhou port with ease,” said Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation.

“Alibaba has a vision for an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) that empowers small and medium businesses around the world to engage in frictionless trade that is shared by Malaysia. Our partnership with MDEC is critical as we work together to create the essential infrastructure for digital trade, and achieving Alibaba’s goal to serve 2 billion consumers; create 100 million job opportunities; and support 10 million businesses.” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.

The MoU seeks to enable the building of infrastructure for seamless cross-border ecommerce trade between Malaysia and China. The three parties agree to work together to explore potential strategic collaborations, consistent with Alibaba’s vision of eWTP.

Under the MoU, the parties will collaborate to create linkages between the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone – the first domestic e-hub, which Alibaba Group played a key role in establishing – and the DFTZ in Malaysia, established by Alibaba and MDEC in March this year, as pilot implementation towards building an e-road for global trade. By leveraging Alibaba’s internet technology and big data, the parties will facilitate cooperation between public and private enterprises in Hangzhou and Malaysia to provide easier access to customs clearance, inspection and permit issuance for SMEs to do cross-border trade.

Earlier, the cloud service provider of Alibaba Company Limited, Alibaba Cloud, received the MSC Status certification from MDEC. The certificate was handed to Jack Ma by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Alibaba Cloud in Malaysia will enable local businesses in technology transformation by supporting system integration, fintech, internet companies and eCommerce. To ensure Malaysia’s capacity in the era of data technology, Alibaba Cloud has identified people, talent development and start-up technology support as key components for its operations in Malaysia.

The company’s total global revenue grew 115% year-on-year and are confident of its new operations in Malaysia. Alibaba Cloud is a top five global cloud service provider according to the 2015 International Data Corporation (IDC).

Launched in March 2017, DFTZ will provide physical and virtual zones to support internet companies to trade goods, provide services, innovate and co-create solutions. The physical zone comprises of the eFulfillment Hub and Satellite Services Hub while the virtual zone consists of the eServices Platform. It has the potential to double the growth of Malaysian SMEs’ goods export by 2025, as well as support US$65 billion worth of goods moving through DFTZ. Additionally, DFTZ is expected to create 60,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2025.

According to Dato’ Yasmin, “DFTZ will be a boost to Malaysia’s eCommerce roadmap that was introduced in 2016, which aims to grow the nation’s eCommerce growth and increase the country’s GDP contribution to RM211 billion (approximately US$47.68 billion) by year 2020.”

She added, “Alibaba has always been a strong partner in eCommerce for Malaysia. The combined Gross Merchandise Value generated from its various retail platforms such as Tmall and Tmall Global have reached USD 57 million to-date. Now our goal is to double that figure.”

Coffee, durian and cookies are currently the top three product categories carried by the eCommerce platforms.

About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.) is the lead agency in driving the digital economy in Malaysia under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia. Since its inception 21 years ago, MDEC’s mission is to develop the nation’s digital economy. MDEC’s implementation efforts are centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity.

MDEC is also responsible to ensure that Malaysia plays an integral part in developing and nurturing talent to drive digital innovation around the world, while attracting participation from global ICT companies to invest and develop cutting edge digital and creative solutions in the country.

To know more about MDEC’s efforts and initiatives in driving Digital economy, please visit www.mdec.my or follow us on: